GET DRAFTED

Trevin Kalick, Sports

The NFL offseason started exactly a week ago and the free agency period has been nothing short of fantastic. Teams have been either blowing up their team or starting from scratch, trying to grab key players to start their rebuilding process, or just grabbing players to go on another Super Bowl run. I think the obvious winners of this free agency period were the New England Patriots as they added a much needed speedy deep threat, a new CB to pair with Malcolm Butler, and resigned their defensive anchor, Dont’a Hightower. The Patriots just won Super Bowl LI and are stocking up like they are trying to win their very first Super Bowl. I think with the moves they have made, they are the clear favorites to repeat and win Super Bowl LII. I gave the Patriots a solid A for their offseason moves. Some other teams that had very good free agency periods are the Miami Dolphins, who I give a solid B+, the Oakland Raiders, who I give a B+ as well, and the Green Bay Packers, who I give an average B. Now that free agency is wrapping up, we are on to the 2017 NFL Draft.

The draft is probably the most anticipated event in the NFL offseason and this one is going to be a great one to sit down and watch. This is one of the deepest drafts in recent history, in literally almost every position imaginable. The first thing to look at is who has the overall number one pick in the draft, and the holder of that honor is the Cleveland Browns. They are no stranger to picking in the top ten of the draft but they have a history of messing it up and picking the wrong guy. This year, I see it being very hard for them to screw this up. Myles Garrett, the former Texas A&M DE, is the clear number one pick and looks to be the sure fire pick for Cleveland. There is no such thing as a sure thing in the NFL draft but Garrett is pretty close. I could go in depth on so many other players but I’m going to save that for when Seth Carter and I give our mock drafts right before the actual draft. Instead, I’m going to just give you some big time players to look out for. In the WR class we have two highly talented players in Corey Davis out of Western Michigan, and John Ross out of Washington. In the RB class–this one is incredibly deep–we have Dalvin Cook out of FSU, Leonard Fournette out of LSU, Christian McCaffrey out of Stanford, Alvin Kamara out of Tennessee, and Joe Mixon out of Oklahoma. Like I said earlier, I will go more in depth in my mock draft but for now, keep a look out for these players I mentioned and remember to watch the draft on April 27.